Tom Cruise & Us

An old friend of mine just pointed out that at least two of Tom Cruise’s wives have been Catholic at least at some point in their lives.

This is true, too, of Cruise, if quick Google searches are to be believed. In fact, if Wikipedia is to be believed (big if), he even wanted to be a Franciscan priest at some point in his life.

Not if L. Ron Hubbard had anything to do with it?

Now I know just about nothing about the lives of any of these people. But the question Cruise in the news might raise for so many of the rest of us is: How often do you encounter the phrase “raised Catholic”?

There is the reality of Catholics not being Catholic, of course, causing public scandal. But then there is the issue of people who have been Catholic, who had some knowledge of their faith, at least sacramentally, and have walked away.

You can’t help but think if more of us were being truly Catholic with the witness of our lives, there would be fewer of those fallen aways.